Farewell Amor, hello family
Daniel Nelson
A lot of migration films focus on the generation gap between the original immigrants and their British offspring. Farewell Amor adds a variation: the gap between a long-settled arrival and the left-behind spouse.
Journalist-turned-taxi driver Walter has been in New York 17 years since fleeing civil war in Angola. So when wife Esther and daughter Sylvia arrive from Tanzania, where they had resettled, you know there will be awkwardness – not least because Esther brings Jesus in her baggage and Sylvie is a stunner who loves dance.
The differences are deftly captured in three opening segments seen from each character’s perspective. So in Walter’s eyes, Sylvia asking for the toilet on arrival in his one-bedroom flat is just that: the need for a toilet after a long flight. But Sylvia’s viewpoint sees her rushing to the bathroom in a panic attack as she reacts to her new situation.
But thanks to mobile phones, the Internet and her peers in Africa she is pre-cooked for the US and takes to the country rapidly, and Walter is more sympathetic to her desire to break out than her church-going mum (“I will not lose my daughter to this country”). He recalls fondly how he and Esther loved dancing together when they were young marrieds in Angola.
He even gives her his version of The Talk, which every Black parent in the US feels compelled to do: “This country is very hard for Black people, especially foreigners. You have to carry yourself a certain way so White people don’t feel threatened. So when we get to dance it’s the one place I can actually be myself, show myself.”
The flashpoint in the two adults’ renewed relationship is the forcefield generated by Walter’s former New York partner, whose absence is suddenly made present in a particularly emotionally disturbing and sexually charged way.
In the closing minutes Walter’s search for and reconciliation with Esther is counterpointed with Sylvia’s frenetic competition dance-off and onto a hopeful but rather pat ending, excused by a lovely last line.
Director Ekwa Msangi’s – a child of immigrants and New York graduate who has promised to make African films – said in an interview with IndieWire: “I wanted to look at the gulf that can widen between loved ones who are separated, whether it be by immigration or any other means. How can they maintain that status and stay hopeful? But then also, what happens when they finally reconnect, and is it even possible? I’d love for audiences to step away thinking about these ideas as if they were the characters.”
She has done so, and made a quiet, touching, thoughtful, satisfying first feature.
+ Farewell Amor is showing at the London Film Festival (7-20 October). Info: https://www.bfi.org.uk/london-film-festival